Ketchup is a condiment. Traditionawwy, recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, mussews, or wawnuts, among oder ingredients,[1][2] but in modern times de unmodified term usuawwy refers to tomato ketchup.

The market weader in de United States (82% market share) and United Kingdom (60%) is Heinz.[4][5] In much of de UK, ketchup is awso known as "tomato sauce" (awdough dis means a fresher pasta sauce ewsewhere in de worwd) or (especiawwy in Wawes) "red sauce."

History

Pickwed fish and spices

In de 17f century, de Chinese mixed a concoction of pickwed fish and spices and cawwed it (in de Amoy diawect) kôe-chiap or kê-chiap (鮭汁, Mandarin Chinese guī zhī, Cantonese gwai1 zap1) meaning de brine of pickwed fish (鮭, sawmon; 汁, juice) or shewwfish.[6] By de earwy 18f century, de tabwe sauce had made it to de Maway states (present day Mawaysia and Singapore), where it was tasted by Engwish cowonists. The Indonesian-Maway word for de sauce was kecap (pronounced "kay-chap"). That word evowved into de Engwish word "ketchup".[7] Engwish settwers den took ketchup wif dem to de American cowonies.[1]

The term Ketchup was used in 1690 in de Dictionary of de Canting Crew which was weww accwaimed in Norf America.[8] The spewwing "catchup" may have awso been used in de past.[9]

Mushroom ketchup

In de United Kingdom, preparations of ketchup were historicawwy and originawwy prepared wif mushrooms as a primary ingredient, rader dan tomatoes.[10][11][12] Ketchup recipes began to appear in British and den American cookbooks in de 18f century. In a 1742 London cookbook, de fish sauce had awready taken on a very British fwavor, wif de addition of shawwots and mushrooms. The mushrooms soon became a main ingredient, and from 1750 to 1850 de word ketchup began to mean any number of din dark sauces made of mushrooms or even wawnuts.[13] In de United States, mushroom ketchup dates back to at weast 1770, and was prepared by British cowonists in "Engwish speaking cowonies in Norf America".[14] In contemporary times, mushroom ketchup is avaiwabwe in de UK, awdough it is not a commonwy used condiment.[15]

Tomato ketchup

Many variations of ketchup were created, but de tomato-based version did not appear untiw about a century water after oder types. One version of de recipe was created by Sandy Addison and pubwished in an American cookbook, The Sugar House Book.[16]

Get [de tomatoes] qwite ripe on a dry day, sqweeze dem wif your hands tiww reduced to a puwp, den put hawf a pound of fine sawt to one hundred tomatoes, and boiw dem for two hours.

Let dem rest for dree days, press off de juice, and to each qwart add a qwarter of a pound of anchovies, two ounces of shawwots, and an ounce of ground bwack pepper.

Boiw up togeder for hawf an hour, strain drough a sieve, and put to it de fowwowing spices; a qwarter of an ounce of mace, de same of awwspice and ginger, hawf an ounce of nutmeg, a drachm of coriander seed, and hawf a drachm of cochineaw.

Pound aww togeder; wet dem simmer gentwy for twenty minutes, and strain drough a bag: when cowd, bottwe it, adding to each bottwe a winegwass of brandy. It wiww keep for seven years.

James Mease pubwished anoder recipe in 1812. In 1824, a ketchup recipe using tomatoes appeared in The Virginia Housewife (an infwuentiaw 19f-century cookbook written by Mary Randowph, Thomas Jefferson's cousin). American cooks awso began to sweeten ketchup in de 19f century.[17]

As de century progressed, tomato ketchup began its ascent in popuwarity in de United States. Ketchup was popuwar wong before fresh tomatoes were.[18] Many Americans[who?] continued to qwestion wheder it was safe to eat raw tomatoes. However, dey were much wess hesitant to eat tomatoes as part of a highwy processed product dat had been cooked and infused wif vinegar and spices.[18]

Tomato ketchup was sowd wocawwy by farmers. Jonas Yerkes is credited as de first American to seww tomato ketchup in a bottwe.[19] By 1837, he had produced and distributed de condiment nationawwy.[20] Shortwy dereafter, oder companies fowwowed suit. F. & J. Heinz waunched deir tomato ketchup in 1876.[21]Heinz tomato ketchup was advertised: "Bwessed rewief for Moder and de oder women in de househowd!", a swogan which awwuded to de wengdy and onerous process reqwired to produce tomato ketchup in de home.[22] Wif industriaw ketchup production and a need for better preservation dere was a great increase of sugar in ketchup, weading to our modern sweet and sour formuwa.[13] In Austrawia, it wasn't untiw de wate 19f century dat sugar was added to tomato sauce, initiawwy in smaww qwantities, but today contains just as much as American ketchup and onwy differed in de proportions of tomatoes, sawt and vinegar in earwy recipes.[23]

The Webster's Dictionary of 1913 defined "catchup" as: "tabwe sauce made from mushrooms, tomatoes, wawnuts, etc. [Awso written as ketchup]."

Prior to Heinz (and his fewwow innovators), commerciaw tomato ketchups of dat time were watery and din, in part due to de use of unripe tomatoes, which were wow in pectin.[24] They had wess vinegar dan modern ketchups; by pickwing ripe tomatoes, de need for benzoate was ewiminated widout spoiwage or degradation in fwavor. But de changes driven by de desire to ewiminate benzoate awso produced changes[cwarification needed] dat some experts (such as Andrew F. Smif[25]) bewieve were key to de estabwishment of tomato ketchup as de dominant American condiment.

Later innovations

In fast food outwets, ketchup is often dispensed in smaww sachets or tubs. Diners tear de side or top and sqweeze de ketchup out of de ketchup packets, or peew de foiw wid off de tub for dipping. In 2011, Heinz began offering a new measured-portion package, cawwed de "Dip and Sqweeze" packet, which can be opened in eider way, giving bof options.[26]

Previouswy, fast food outwets dispensed ketchup from pumps into paper cups. This medod has made a resurgence in de first decade of de 21st century wif cost and environmentaw concerns over de increasing use of individuaw packets.

Terminowogy

The term used for de sauce varies. Ketchup is de dominant term in American Engwish, and Canadian Engwish, awdough catsup is commonwy used in some soudern US states and Mexico.[29]

Tomato sauce is more common in Engwish-speaking countries outside Norf America, incwuding Austrawia, New Zeawand, and de United Kingdom.[30] Whiwe in Canada and de United States, tomato sauce refers to pasta sauce, and is not a synonym for ketchup.

Etymowogy

The etymowogy of de word ketchup is uncwear, wif muwtipwe competing deories.[31]

China deory

One prominent deory is dat de word came to Engwish from de Cantonese "keh jup" (茄汁 ke2 zap1, a shortened version of 蕃茄汁 faan1 ke2 zap1 "tomato sauce; tomato juice").[32]

An awternative deory is dat de word derives from one of two words from de Fujian region of coastaw soudern China: "kôe-chiap" (in Xiamen (Amoy)) or "kê-chiap"[33] (in Guangzhou (Canton)). Bof of dese words (鮭汁, kôe-chiap and kê-chiap) come from de Amoy diawect of China, where it meant de brine of pickwed fish (鮭, sawmon; 汁, juice) or shewwfish.[6] There are citations of "koe-chiap" in de Dictionary of de Vernacuwar or Spoken Language of de Amoy (London; Trudner) from 1873, defined as "brine of pickwed fish or sheww-fish".

In Indonesian cuisine, which is simiwar to Maway, de term kecap refers to fermented savory sauces. Two main types are weww known in deir cuisine: kecap asin which transwates to 'sawty kecap' in Indonesian (a sawty soy sauce) and kecap manis or witerawwy "sweet kecap" in Indonesian, uh-hah-hah-hah. Kecap manis is a sweet soy sauce dat is a mixture of soy sauce wif brown sugar, mowasses, garwic, ginger, anise, coriander and a bay weaf reduced over medium heat untiw rader syrupy. A dird type, kecap ikan, meaning "fish kecap" is fish sauce simiwar to de Thainam pwa or de Phiwippinepatis. It is not, however, soy-based.

European-Arabic deory

American andropowogist E.N. Anderson rewies on Ewizabef David to cwaim dat ketchup is a cognate of de French escaveche, meaning "food in sauce", but gives no furder audority.[35] The word awso exists in Spanish and Portuguese forms as escabeche, "a sauce for pickwing", which cuwinary historian Karen Hess traced back to Arabic Kabees, or "pickwing wif vinegar". The term was angwicized to caveach, a word first attested in de wate 17f century, at de same time as ketchup.[31]

Earwy uses in Engwish

Bwue Labew Tomato Ketchup advertisement, Curtice Broders 1898.

The word entered de Engwish wanguage in Britain during de wate 17f century, appearing in print as catchup (1690) and water as ketchup (1711). The fowwowing is a wist of earwy qwotations cowwected by de Oxford Engwish Dictionary.

One important use to which severaw ... fungi can be appwied, is de manufacture of ketchup.

The spewwing catsup seems to have appeared first from de pen of Jonadan Swift, in 1730. Despite dis origin, de spewwing is wargewy unused in Britain today, where it is often assumed to be an Americanism.

Composition

Heinz tomato ketchup’s ingredients are: tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distiwwed vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sawt, spice, onion powder, and naturaw fwavoring.[37] Tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes is de first ingredient on de wist, which means it has de highest percentage of weight widin de finaw product. Tomatoes have a compwex composition of sugars, starch, pectin, ascorbic acids, organic acids, amino acids, steroids, carotenoids, wipids, free fatty acids, and vowatiwes.[38] The second ingredient wisted is distiwwed vinegar, which is eighty percent pure water and twenty percent acetic acid.[39] Next is high fructose corn syrup, which is made up of 42% fructose, 53% gwucose, and 5% oder powysaccharides and sugars.[40] Corn syrup is 100% gwucose.[40] Sawt is de next ingredient wisted and is composed of sodium and chworide ions. Spice, onion powder, and naturaw fwavoring are de wast ingredients on de wist, meaning dat dey have de weast percent weight. These dree ingredients contribute to overaww fwavor of de product.

"Fancy" ketchup

Some ketchup in de U.S. is wabewed "Fancy". This is a USDA grade, rewating to specific gravity. Fancy ketchup has a higher tomato sowid concentration dan oder USDA grades.[41]

USDA Ketchup Grades

Grade

Specific Gravity

Totaw Sowids

Fancy

1.15

33%

Extra Standard

1.13

29%

Standard

1.11

25%

Processing

Fresh tomatoes received at a tomato processing pwant can be turned into a variety of different products, one of which incwudes ketchup. The process begins by washing de tomatoes to remove any outer dirt and foreign matter from de skin prior to processing. Upon inspection, damaged, spoiwed or unwanted tomatoes wiww be sorted out manuawwy. Tomatoes wiww usuawwy be conveyed by water droughout de prewiminary stages to avoid bruising.

After being sorted, washed and chopped up, dey proceed into warge steew vats for preservation/precooking and awso to destroy any bacteria dat couwd be harmfuw for de rest of de processing period as weww as for de consumer after production, uh-hah-hah-hah. The juice wiww be extracted out by a juice extraction system. The outer skin, seed, stem, and fiber of fruits wouwd be separated from de juice in a process known as puwping. Once separated, de juice and de puwp from de tomato get fiwtered and processed into ketchup. A smooder ketchup consistency is achieved drough more fiwtering and screenings, weeding out any excess puwp.

After juice fiwtration, additionaw ingredients are added to de mixture to achieve de desired taste and consistency. Some of de main ingredients used to create ketchup incwude sweeteners, vinegar, sawt and spices, and fwavouring. These additions are usuawwy integrated water on in de process wif de exception of some spices added in at de beginning. Throughout de entire process, temperature must be consistentwy monitored to make sure aww de ingredients are being added and absorbed properwy. Air is den removed in order to prevent oxidation, maintain proper cowouring and inhibit de growf of any unwanted bacteria. Before being packaged, de ketchup is heated to approx.190 °F (88 °C) to prevent contamination, uh-hah-hah-hah.

After packaging, de bottwes are immediatewy seawed to retain de freshness and preserve de shewf-wife of de product. The finaw step is coowing de product via cowd air or water to maintain its fwavour.

Viscosity

Transferring ketchup between pwastic bottwes.

Commerciaw tomato ketchup has an additive, usuawwy xandan gum, which gives de condiment a pseudopwastic or "shear dinning" property - more commonwy known as dixotropic. This increases de viscosity of de ketchup considerabwy wif a rewativewy smaww amount added—usuawwy 0.5%—which can make it difficuwt to pour from a container. However, de shear dinning property of de gum ensures dat when a force is appwied to de ketchup it wiww wower de viscosity enabwing de sauce to fwow. A common medod to getting ketchup out of de bottwe invowves inverting de bottwe and shaking it or hitting de bottom wif de heew of de hand, which causes de ketchup to fwow rapidwy. A techniqwe invowves inverting de bottwe and forcefuwwy tapping its upper neck wif two fingers (index and middwe finger togeder). Specificawwy, wif a Heinz ketchup gwass bottwe, one taps de 57 circwe on de neck. This hewps de ketchup fwow by appwying de correct shearing force.[43] These techniqwes work because of how pseudopwastic fwuids behave: deir viscosity (resistance to fwow) decreases wif increasing shear rate. The faster de ketchup is sheared (by shaking or tapping de bottwe), de more fwuid it becomes. After de shear is removed de ketchup dickens to its originaw viscosity.

Ketchup is a non-Newtonian fwuid meaning dat its viscosity changes under stress and is not constant. It is a shear dinning fwuid which means its viscosity decreases wif increased shear stress.[44] The eqwation used to designate a Non-Newtonian fwuid is as fowwows: η=τ/y˙{\dispwaystywe \eta =\tau /{\dot {y}}}. This eqwation represents apparent viscosity where apparent viscosity is de shear stress divided by shear rate. Viscosity is dependent on stress. This is apparent when you shake a bottwe of tomato sauce/ketchup so it becomes wiqwid enough to sqwirt out. Its viscosity decreased wif stress.[45]

Graph representation of de dree main fwuid viscosity categories

The mowecuwar composition of ketchup is what creates ketchup's pseudopwastic characteristics. Smaww powysaccharides, sugars, acids, and water make up de majority of de metastabwe ketchup product, and dese smaww structures are abwe to move more easiwy droughout a matrix because of deir wow mass. Whiwe exposed to shear stress, de mowecuwes widin de suspension are abwe to respond qwickwy and create an awignment widin de product.[46] The bonds between de mowecuwes are mostwy hydrogen bonds, ionic interactions, and ewectrostatic interactions, aww of which can be broken when subject to stress. Hydrogen bonds are constantwy rearranging widin a product due to deir need to be in de wowest energy state, which furder confirms dat de bonds between de mowecuwes wiww be easiwy disrupted. This awignment onwy wasts for as wong as shear stress is appwied. The mowecuwes return to deir originaw disorganized state once de shear stress dissipates.[46]

Separation

Ketchup is one of de many products dat is weachabwe; meaning dat de water widin de product migrates togeder as de warger mowecuwes widin de product sediment, uwtimatewy causing water to separate out. This forms a wayer of water on top of de ketchup due to de mowecuwar instabiwity widin de product.[39] This instabiwity is caused by interactions between hydrophobic mowecuwes and charged mowecuwes widin de ketchup suspension, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Pectin is a powysaccharide widin tomatoes dat has de abiwity to bind to itsewf and to oder mowecuwes, especiawwy water, around it. This enabwes it to create a gew-wike matrix, dependent on de amount widin de sowution, uh-hah-hah-hah. Water is a warge part of ketchup, due to it being 80% of de composition of distiwwed vinegar. In order for de water widin de ketchup to be at de wowest possibwe energy state, aww of de hydrogen bonds dat are abwe to be made widin de matrix must be made.[48] The water bound to de powysaccharide moves more swowwy widin de matrix, which is unfavorabwe wif respect to entropy.[39] The increased order widin de powysaccharide-water compwex gives rise to a high-energy state, in which de water wiww want to be rewieved. This concept impwies dat water wiww more favorabwy bind wif itsewf because of de increased disorder between water mowecuwes. This is partiawwy de cause for water weaching out of sowution when weft undisturbed for a short period of time.

Oder interactions dat induce weaching are ewectrostatic and ionic interactions. Ewectrostatic interactions occur between charged mowecuwes, which have repuwsive or attractive forces between each oder. The pectin widin ketchup wiww have negative and neutraw charges awong de mowecuwe due to de hydroxyw groups and rewative pH, which is 3.9 on average.[49] Pectin is most stabwe at a pH of 3.5, so de more basic pH widin ketchup wiww protonate de hydroxyw side chains and derefore create a wess viscous gew. Acetic acid widin vinegar awso has hydroxyw groups dat wiww have a dispersed amount of negative and neutraw charges awong each mowecuwe. The acetic acid and pectin wiww dispway repuwsive interactions between de negativewy charged oxygens on each mowecuwe. The hydroxyws on each mowecuwe wiww be abwe to form hydrogen bonds wif de water in de product. The addition of sawt wiww reduce de repuwsive interactions between de negativewy charged side chains of acetic acid and pectin widin sowution because dey wiww create bonds wif de dissociated sodium and chworide ions.[50] The hydrogen bonds and ewectrostatic interactions wiww encourage weaching because de formation of bonds associated wif de need for mowecuwes to be in de wowest energy state are not awways bonds dat happen between different mowecuwes and instead are formed between wike mowecuwes, causing aggregation, uh-hah-hah-hah.

A way for ketchup manufacturing companies to avoid weaching of deir products wouwd be to add a hydrocowwoid. Xandan gum is abwe to stabiwize ketchup by covawentwy binding to water. This strong bond keeps water from separating out of de ketchup and creating a wayer at de surface.[39]